Cant believe im posting this - but im so out of touch! Upgrade advice

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jez
  • Start date Start date

Jez

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,075
OK, time has come that my primary pc is feeling a bit old and tired. I havnt upgraded it for what seems like years. And am now looking at going for a new 64bit system. I need to know what i can reuse, as if i cant use much then i will probably just buy a new complete system and save me the bother of loads of individual parts, unless they come in cheaper.

Current system:

P4 3.0HT
Abit IC7-G
2GB PC3200 DDR
4*Cheetah X15's
64bit Compaq PCI SCSI Raid Controller (obv running through a 32bit slot)
250GB PATA storage disk
PATA DVDRW
ATI Radeon 9800pro AGP
ATI Radeon 7500 PCI
pci gigE NIC
Sparkle 400PFN PSU (standard molex supply)
ATX Ally Case

What can i reuse, what shall i buy? Im really out of touch with all the new stuff :)
 
You CAN reuse a lot of it. The question is whether or not you should.
Jez said:
Current system:

P4 3.0HT Nope
Abit IC7-G Nope
2GB PC3200 DDR Nope
4*Cheetah X15's Yes, if you want to.
64bit Compaq PCI SCSI Raid Controller (obv running through a 32bit slot) Yes, if you want to.
250GB PATA storage diskYes, if you want to.
PATA DVDRW Yes, if you want to.
ATI Radeon 9800pro AGP Nope
ATI Radeon 7500 PCI Yes, if you want to.
pci gigE NIC Yes, if you want to. Most mobos have GbitE onboard these days so it would be redundant.
Sparkle 400PFN PSU (standard molex supply) Yes, if you want to. However, most new setups will want more than 400W power.
ATX Ally Case Yes, if you want to. Though it might be better just to get a new modern one.
Click to expand...
What's your budget for the whole upgrade?
 
I would like to reuse the HDD array, as there is seemingly nothing which is going to be faster. The case i would like to keep also, along with the PSU as long as i can get away with what connectors it has (there is no way it wont cope, its very high current).

So, it looks like i will be needing a motherboard, a cpu, some memory, and a primary gfx controller (i will reuse the pci card), whilst retaining compatibility with the other stuff.

Budget is unlimited within reason, whilst keeping "normal" parts i would like the best stuff, bar the gfx controller, all that needs to do is be good enough for C&C3, and display up to 2048*1536*32 over 2 displays, it must have dual analogue capable outputs.

I am not overly bothered about having to change cheap parts like psu's and dvdrw drives if they are going to cause agro with finding new compatible parts. :)
 
Again, what's your budget? I very much doubt that you'll be able to get away with a 400W PSU to run the whole rig with a modern space-heater graphics card. ;)

In the end, how many PCI slots do you need?
 
2, one for the raid controller, and one for the additional gfx controller. Thats assuming that i wont need to add a pci PATA controller or anything like that, and that the board has gigE onboard.

The PSU will be fine with any setup, its powered twin vapochills along with chips far more powerful than anything i will be running these days :) The issue is whether it has the right connectors.

As i say, no budget, im not strapped for money, but at the same time there is no point going crazy on a multi cpu system, would like 4GB memory as i often run several VM's at once, and will be using vista which seems to eat up as much as you can throw at it, the gfx card doesnt need to be any better than the 9800pro though really, thats the only part which doesnt need to be the best :)
 
This might be suitable for you, I've gone dual core but you could go quad core on the same motherboard for around £200 more. 4gb Ram, the graphics card is a fair bit more powerful than the 9800pro but it is pretty cheap overall, if you really want no improvement then the 7300GT at ~£35 is fine. I've gone with Vista 64bit to allow you to access the full 4gb of Ram and you will still need to install drivers for the Raid array. :)

Samsung SH-183LBEBN 18x18 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
(£21.14) £17.99
(£21.14)
OCZ 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Vista Gold Series DDR2 (OCZ2G8004GK) £164.99
(£193.86) £164.99
(£193.86)
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
OcUK GeForce 7600 GT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £54.99
(£64.61) £54.99
(£64.61)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £127.99
(£150.39) £127.99
(£150.39)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66I-00788) £63.99
(£75.19) £63.99
(£75.19)
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular SLI Compliant PSU (CMPSU-620HXUK) £84.99
(£99.86) £84.99
(£99.86)
Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case - No PSU £79.99
(£93.99) £79.99
(£93.99)
Noctua NH-U12F (Socket LGA775/754/939/940/AM2) Heatsink £30.99
(£36.41) £30.99
(£36.41)
Sub Total : £695.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
Vat : £123.70
Total : £830.56
 
Sounds good. Is that the motherboard of choice these days? Interested to know why you chose that one specifically?

I see you included a new case and PSU, im assuming my old ATX stuff wont fit this new board then?
 
Jez, that's an excellent case but I'm tempted to tell you to keep your existing one. ATX hasn't changed as it relates to motherboards so the new mobo will fit so if you've been able to cool all those fast drives your existing case should be sufficient.

New mobos have EPS12V sockets and 24-pin ATX sockets. While these are backwards compatible it's always better to have the extra power supply pins in place.
 
Last edited:
So i could keep the case and just get a new PSU? I quite like the case i currently have, and it was around £200 when i bought it!
 
If you like your current case and it fits the parts you already have then keep it, I just suggested the Eclipse as it is a good case. I would change the PSU however as your original probably isn't ATX2.X compliant unlike the Corsair and the Corsair is an excellent PSU with lots of power to spare.

I picked the motherboard as it is a good solid motherboard with decent overclocking at a reasonable price, my other choice would be a Gigabyte DS3P. Either are quad core compatible for easy upgrades and both are pretty fully featured. :)
 
Cool, i will order the parts you have specified then :)

Edit: how much better is the quad core version of this same chip btw?
 
Last edited:
Jez said:
Cool, i will order the parts you have specified then :)

Edit: how much better is the quad core version of this same chip btw?
Click to expand...
If you're getting a quad core go for the Xeon X3210. It's cheap at the moment and is quite capable.

Quads aren't very useful for gaming yet but if I was running multiple VMs I'd want as much CPU available as possible. If you've got the money, go for it. The Xeons are clocking up to about 3 GHz on that board.
 
Whats the actual difference between the X3220 and the Q6600? I cant see anything to differentiate between them :confused: Also, is the X3220 any better (once clocked) than the X3210 (i noticed that you recommended the 10)

As i say its not a matter of not having the money, i will spend whatever needs to be spent as its not a lot in the scheme of things, what i dont want to do is waste money however on unnecessary stuff :)
 
The Xeons are server processors. Basically exactly the same but with better quality silicon that's designed to be running 24x7. Not sure if that would ever really make much odds as I doubt you could kill an Q6600 even if you ran it 24x7 for two years.

The P5N-E will be good for you as it has 2xPATA channels whereas almost all other boards have just 1xPATA. It's also a good overclocker especially after a few little tweaks.

I would stick with your current case but get the 620W Corsair modular. The Noctua is a great cooler.

If you want to play C&C3 at anything over 1280x1024 you'll probably need something more powerful then the 7600GT. Would you consider a 8800GTS for £150~? There is one on special offer now. That would give you DX10 when it arrives on Vista and would smash through any games at high res for a good while.

EDIT: The difference between the X3220 and the 3210 is the multiplier. I believe the 3220 has a 9x multi and the 3210 has an 8x multi.
Basically your FSB will have to be higher to get a certain CPU speed with the lower multi but this could be a good thing if you're running memory at 1:1 ratio.
 
Darg said:
The Xeons are server processors. Basically exactly the same but with better quality silicon that's designed to be running 24x7. Not sure if that would ever really make much odds as I doubt you could kill an Q6600 even if you ran it 24x7 for two years.
Click to expand...

The same then :p Historically the xeon branded cpu came in different pinouts and with additional features, it seems this is no longer the case.

Darg said:
The P5N-E will be good for you as it has 2xPATA channels whereas almost all other boards have just 1xPATA. It's also a good overclocker especially after a few little tweaks.
Click to expand...

Ah, i didnt notice the PATA channels in its featureset, bonus definately.

Darg said:
If you want to play C&C3 at anything over 1280x1024 you'll probably need something more powerful then the 7600GT. Would you consider a 8800GTS for £150~? There is one on special offer now. That would give you DX10 when it arrives on Vista and would smash through any games at high res for a good while.
Click to expand...

Confused at this as my 9800pro plays C&C3 at 1280*1024 with all detail maxed out with no slowdown at all. I'm not sure i can justify the extra for power that i just will not use, gfx controllers these days seem uber overpowered from what i can see! I think i will stick with the lower model, with the rate of progress in this area i will be able to upgrade for the cost of a takeaway at a later date!

Darg said:
EDIT: The difference between the X3220 and the 3210 is the multiplier. I believe the 3220 has a 9x multi and the 3210 has an 8x multi.
Basically your FSB will have to be higher to get a certain CPU speed with the lower multi but this could be a good thing if you're running memory at 1:1 ratio.
Click to expand...

I'm not a n00b to overclocking, i realise this will be the case :D What i meant was is the actual chip any better? Or will they yeild the same net clock? If they are the same then the cheaper slower one will actually be advantageous.

Many thanks for the replies and advice :)
 
Jez said:
The same then :p Historically the xeon branded cpu came in different pinouts and with additional features, it seems this is no longer the case.
Click to expand...
They still do. The main Xeon socket is LGA 771. 771 allows for multi-CPU configurations. This processor, however, is intended for low-end servers and workstations. It uses cheaper 775 motherboards with cheaper unbuffered, non-ECC RAM. It's perfect for desktop enthusiasts just like 939 Opterons were about a year ago. :)
 
Jez said:
Confused at this as my 9800pro plays C&C3 at 1280*1024 with all detail maxed out with no slowdown at all. I'm not sure i can justify the extra for power that i just will not use, gfx controllers these days seem uber overpowered from what i can see! I think i will stick with the lower model, with the rate of progress in this area i will be able to upgrade for the cost of a takeaway at a later date!
Click to expand...

Really? Wow.. got new respect for my old card. In that case the 7600GT will be perfect for your needs. I didn't know if you wanted to run C&C3 at daftly high res like 1920xwhatever.

Jez said:
I'm not a n00b to overclocking, i realise this will be the case :D What i meant was is the actual chip any better? Or will they yeild the same net clock? If they are the same then the cheaper slower one will actually be advantageous.

Many thanks for the replies and advice :)
Click to expand...

Pretty much exactly the same if the conroes are anything to go by. The 3220 might possibly be picked from a better bunch but I really doubt you'll notice any difference.
 
Cool mate, thanks very much for all replies, everything is much clearer now, time to spank the plastic :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom